12 September 2019 :
A designated fast track court in Odisha on 10 September 2019 awarded death sentence to a 28-year-old man for rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl at Gadharishpur within Erasama police limits in March last year. This is the second capital punishment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the State.
Holding the accused Kalia Manna guilty of the crime, Additional District-cum-POCSO special court Judge Moon Rani Mishra handed him the death sentence. The victim had gone missing from her home at Gadaharishpur village on the evening of March 20, 2018. Though her father Paresh Adi and other family members launched a frantic search, she could not be traced. The next morning Puja’s naked body was found in a cashew farm about 300 metres from her house.
